In electrophotographic apparatuses, a contact charging system is known in which a voltage is applied to a roller-shaped charging member arranged in contact with a surface of a drum-shaped photosensitive member to cause microdischarge to occur in the vicinity of a nip therebetween, thereby electrostatically charging the surface of the photosensitive member.
As the charging member used in the contact charging system, as disclosed in PTL 1, it is common to incorporate particles into a surface layer to cause its surface to roughen in order to reduce, for example, the adhesion of a developer to the surface and stabilize the discharge.
Meanwhile, PTL 2 discloses a charging member having a charging ability improved by arranging a thin surface layer on an electrically conductive elastic layer, the thin surface layer containing a polysiloxane having an oxyalkylene group.